


take me on (take on me)

by orphan_account



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, Guns, The Last of Us AU, Violence, but I explain as I go you dont need to have knowledge, but also soft awkward encounters of the homosexual kind, okay, theres a scene in tlou where the gays sing take on me and thats why this exists okay?, usual zombie au stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25137058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “You must be new around here, or very lucky.”“The second one.” Crystal answers, dejectedly.Or:The TLOU/Zombie AU that genuinely no one wanted but that I had to get out of me.Crystal gets seperated from her group during a routine check of the area, and gets into trouble when she takes shelter in occupied territory.
Relationships: Gigi Goode/Crystal Methyd
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	take me on (take on me)

‘This is bullshit!’ Crystal thinks. Crouching in the doorway of the old, crumbly building, she curses the stupid rotation shift that had caused her to be there today. Of all days. 

It was meant to be a routine check of the area. The suburbs close to camp were to be checked at least once a month, and this particular street had been overlooked one too many times, so here she was. She was meant to be with Jaida. But it seems when you don’t check, a place can become infested right under your nose. 

She still couldn’t understand where they had come from. They had stumbled across a house with a stuck door, leading from the living room to the kitchen, and when Crystal had pushed her weight against it, Jaida already on guard with her rifle, it creaked louder than a busted engine. It was devastating. 

They froze like statues, waiting to see if they were still safe. This clearly wasn’t the case, because Crystal was alone now. There has been a burst of sound, growls and screams, echoing up from the basement inside and all around them. As soon as it began, it was already close, and Crystal wasn’t sure what happened next, even as it was happening. 

All she knew was that Jaida was in front of her, holding one of them back with her weapon, bracing herself against the creature throwing its entire self into tearing them apart. There were more coming, and it wasn’t a decision to run. It was basic training, what all of them had be taught to do, over and over. Still, Crystal couldn’t bear to leave her, and bashed the Runner’s head in with her bat as she sprinted past. Then she ran. 

Through the house, over the kitchen counter, ignoring the sound of breaking glass as a vase falls with the impact. She ran until she couldn’t hear them anymore, until her legs hurt and she could barely see the house behind her. 

And she was alone. 

Now she was just trying to get home. There was no point trying to finish the check by herself, it was only taking a risk that would have her joining the shambling monsters that had ruined life on earth.

The streets were littered with the infected since they had disturbed their resting place, standing around without stimulation, waiting for something to cross them. Others walked aimlessly, some kind of migration only they could see. Which led Crystal through the houses instead of taking the easy path.

She didn’t like the idea, considering what they had found indoors last time, but it was better than leading the horde back to the camp. They were all set up in the neighbourhood school, cleared out by the army before the army fell apart, and it was safe. But it couldn’t handle this. The houses are quiet, and she creeps through backyards filled with abandoned barbeques. Its earie, in its own way. 

She’s not too far from the school, maybe fifteen minutes by foot, when her good luck runs out. It’s the end of the street, and she needs to cross the road before she can get back into shelter, but when she peeks over the fence, she sees nothing haunting the roads. So, she scales it, and dashes across, trying to keep her backpack from jingling too loud. 

She vaults over the next wall and into the backyard of the adjacent house, and its smooth. She’s in the clear, but she stops for a moment, just for safety. Listening for anything that might mean she needed to run again. Just as she’s certain everything is going her way, and a smile stretches over her face, there’s an explosion of sound, just beside her, and the grass to her right springs from the ground. Crystal is showered in dirt. 

She springs away, but her ears are ringing, and she’s disorientated. She’s still smart enough to move quickly though. The gunshot had come from inside the house she was now hiding behind, and despite the fear of other people streaming through her, she runs towards it, ducking below the window and staying still as possible. 

There are a few options. She can try and run. Risking this gunman shooting her in the back, or being spotted and run down by the creatures. 

She can try and get the jump on the person. They seem to be upstairs (she assumes, since she’s not already dead), and she needs to be between walls. That sound is sure to draw unwanted attention, and she can already faintly hear wails echoing towards her, closer and closer as she tries to make her decision. 

She tries the door, instinct running high, and finds that the knob turns in her grasp. She’s inside and closing the door just as bodies begin to hit against the fencing. She can hear commotion above her for a moment, and tries to get a hold on her surroundings. 

It’s a classic semi-detached, the same as all the others she has passed before. She’s in a kitchen, or what was left of one, with a living room to her right and the front door ahead of her. Crystal’s body drags itself behind the island without being commanded to do so, and she breathes unsteadily, listening to the Runners’ tear down the crumbling wall outside.

Its quiet upstairs, and just as Crystal thinks she’s escaped without alerting the owner, she’s stopped by the cold barrel of a gun against her temple. 

“Can’t you read?” The strangers gun jerks left, diverting Crystal’s attention to the walls, where, splattered in red, were the words; ‘If you loot, I shoot’ repeated over and over in a level of warning that, had Crystal been in any other situation, she would have been ashamed of missing. 

She’s about to respond, when a scream comes wrenching from just outside, and her blood runs cold. The stranger doesn’t move, but there’s a strain her voice when she speaks again. “Were you in 208?” 

“Um,” Crystal didn’t want to answer, but it seems that that was enough, because the stranger groans, audible and annoyed. They are right outside the door, Crystal could almost hear the gnashing of their jaws, frothing and choking on their own blood. Crystal felt faint. “Are you gonna shoot me?” 

“Do you have a gun?” 

“What?”

“A gun, fuck, do you have one?” Crystal affirms she does, just as bodies begin to hurl themselves at the door. Crystal jumps, feels her heart diving into her throat.

The stranger lays hands on her then, and Crystal yelps when she’s scooped up by her armpits to her feet. She goes to attack, but is blocked, long arms circling her, covering her mouth to keep the sound of alarm breaking through, her back to the other woman’s front. This is it. This is how she dies, not at the hands of the bloodthirsty Infected, but a normal human. Its almost natural, and that’s something, she supposes.

But the killing blow doesn’t come, and Crystal’s eyes, which has long since slid shut in fear, chanced a glance. The stranger, who’s face is covered by a mask and a hat, was in her field of vision clearly for the first time, and Crystal could see her eyes glaring forward, ignoring her, but focused on the door. She was shaking a little, but Crystal couldn’t blame her.

Outside, the attack on the door was beginning to cease, since Crystal had returned from her fearful absence. It was an old, strong, structure, reinforced with metal poles running across it, now that Crystal is taking a good look at it. Its good, but it wouldn’t have survived much more.

But they have breached the walls outside, and there must be at least a dozen now, surrounding them both in this little, rotting house.

“You need to stay completely quiet, and drop your weapons.” Crystal complies, placing everything down without making a sound. The monsters outside were howling, some of them still coming towards the doors, but they were out of sight, hidden unless they made a mistake.

The stranger leads her with the barrel of her gun away from the door and her stuff, back away from the door, and towards the living room. “Sit.” The stranger whispers, and after a beat, Crystal does as she’s told. There’s sweat pouring down her back under her thick jacket, and she is terrified. She hasn’t encountered anyone outside of their own group for almost a year, and that hadn’t been a good experience.

The stranger whips the hat off her head, long dark hair styled in a ponytail spilling down her back, but she does not remove her mask. Her eyes give very little away as she looks Crystal up and down, taking stock of her for the first time, but she seems shaken. The arm that isn’t holding her pistol is wrapped around her own midsection, and Crystal wishes she could see the rest of her face. She can’t tell what she is thinking, and it only makes her panic grow.

The growls echo around them, as Crystal feels her fate hanging in the balance. She tries not to come off as intimidating (or intimidated, for that matter), and keeps her eyes down, even as everything in her wants to look at her companion.

“What’s your name?”

“What?” Crystal is a little too loud, and silences herself immediately. They hang in quiet together again for a beat, until it is deemed safe. The stranger shakes her head at her, eyes narrow, and her previous words ring repeated in Crystal’s head.

“Crystal.” She answers, a whisper that’s barely audible over the cacophony outside.

“Okay, Crystal. We’re going to move upstairs, okay?”

Crystal just nods, and the gun is levelled at her head again. She feels its not necessary. She wasn’t about to make a break for it, and risk another gunshot ringing out. She wouldn’t get lucky enough to dodge it again anyway. Still, she doesn’t say anything, and slowly makes her way up the stairs at the stranger’s pace, slowly.

“Through the first door on your left, please.” Crystal nods carefully, wary of knocking against the gun and startling the woman.

She’s guided into a bedroom of sorts. Or, that’s what it must have been in the past. Now, it was a campsite at best, with an old mattress and blanket on the floor, surrounded in supplies thrown haphazardly around the room, and a big, open window that displayed the yard behind the house. Where she had been shot at from, presumably. Crystal swallowed heavily at the thought, but stood by the window, where she is being wordlessly told too.

The garden is, expectedly, full of Infected. A few Clicker’s amongst them, their ghoulish cries ringing chillingly up towards them, seeking them out through echo location. The fungus that has infected their minds, taken over their bodies, and grown out from their skin, had robbed them of their sight over time, but they were no less threatening. Crystal felt bile in the back of her throat at the sight.

The strange lowers her weapon then, once Crystal is safely against the window, and far away from her backpack that she could no longer be a threat. She lowers her mask too, and Crystal is struck dumb for a moment.

Its not that she hasn’t been around many people. She’s surrounded by people at her camp, beautiful people even, but this woman is new to her, and she’s struck by the way the light hits her cheekbones. It’s only for a moment through, before the woman’s dark eyes land back on her, and they are hard, her jaw clenched.

“So, where have you come from? Are you part of the Rattlers?”

Crystal was taken aback. “The Rattlers? No, what? Who are they?”

It was the woman’s turn to seem confused. She spoke awkwardly, unpractised and stiff, but Crystal could see her nervousness. She wonders how long its been since this girl has seen another person, much less spoken to one, and feels a brief flash of pity, before chasing it way. You don’t pity the person holding a gun on you.

“They’re a large group, South of us.” The woman asked. “You must be new around here, or very lucky.” She closes the window gingerly, trying to keep the sound inside as much as possible. 

“The second one.” Crystal answeres easily, dejectedly almost, but the woman laughs. It sounds just as difficult as her speech, more of a bark than a laugh, and its halted quickly, but Crystal smiles at the sound anyway. She’s always been told she’s charismatic, good with people, and hopes that those people weren’t just lying to her. She needs all the help she can get.

“What’s your name?” Crystal chances her arm to ask, and the stranger narrows her eyes.

There’s a moment where Crystal doubts she’s going to get an answer. The dark haired woman before her seems restless, afraid of her more than she should be, but she seems to steel herself over, and answers. “Gigi.”

“Hi, Gigi.” Crystal says, trying out the name. Its one she’s not heard before, and she knows people with some weird names.

“You never answered me.” Gigi speaks again after a beat of quiet. Crystal gives her a questioning glance. Its better to stay quiet where they could. While Gigi seems comfortable speaking in a low tone, confirming that they have a hint of safety up here, but its still not comfortable. Not safe. “Who are you?”

Crystal doesn’t really know how to answer her, but words fall out of her anyway. “I, um, I’m with a small group near the school. No, in the school.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know. Maybe thirty, I haven’t counted.” Crystal whispers. “I can count now, if you want?”

“No,” Gigi dismisses. She seems conflicted. “What are you doing here, specifically then?”

“Just a routine check.” Crystal answers with precision, the words familiar and easy. “We check the area for Infected. I don’t know how we missed you.” Gigi stiffens, and Crystal rushes to correct herself. “Not to, like, kill you! Just that we’ve been through this area before… or at least we should have been.”

“And what would have happened if you had?” Gigi asks, and Crystal, once again, doesn’t know the answer. She doesn’t know what she would have done, or what Jaida would have done, or what some of their higher ups may have thought needed to be done.

“I don’t know.” She answers honestly, and regrets it, but Gigi laughs another weak, untrained laugh.

“Thank you for being honest.” She smiles at her then, and Crystal can’t help but return the gesture. Its quiet for a moment. The growls from below drowned out, and Gigi leans heavily against the wall behind her. “You can sit if you want, we’re stuck here for a while.”

“What?”

“You have surrounded us in demons.” Gigi said, gesturing around her in the air as if the air itself held the danger. Which, in a sense, it kind of did. The infection was airborne after all. “We can’t leave until they move on.”

“We could fight out.” Crystal says, but Gigi is quick to shake her head.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the bullets.”

Crystal knows she’s right. She left with maybe ten rounds in her gun. Bullets were a heavily budgeted item now, with stores running lower and lower with each passing year. The apocalypse certainly stopped mass production in its tracks pretty efficiently. “Oh, okay.” She eases down to the floor, slowly and on stiff legs, and watches Gigi holster her gun at her hip. 

She neglected to slip yhe clip closed though, leaving it for easy access. Crystal didn’t have it in her to be offended. The house is cold, and she sits with her knees up to her chest. Thinking of the girls at home, her heart aches, and she wishes she could let them know where she was, and not to come looking. 

She hopes Jaida is okay. 

*

As time passes in stiff silence, Crystal dozes off for a bit, only woken when there’s a soft thud beside her. She startles upwards, and comes face to face with Gigi. Wide brown eyes lock on hers, and the two of them freeze, Crystal half on her haunches, and Gigi leaning down, arm outstretched in front of her. 

“Sorry.” Gigi murmurs. “Dropped a can.” Crystal looks down, to see an old looking tin of peaches, resting on its side on the dirty carpet, and releases a shaky breath. 

“It’s okay.”

“You were sleeping.” Gigi starts, and Crystal just nods at the obvious statement. Gigi cringes at herself, grabs the can and retreats back to her corner of the room. “You hungry?” She asks, formal, and Crystal nods again. Another can is swiftly retrieved from Gigi’s stash and rolled over to her, and a fork is thrown over too, and, even though its awful, Crystal chokes down the food with gusto. She didn’t realise how hungry she was until she started eating. Gigi laughs another one of her weird laughs at her. 

“What?” She asks, frowning at her new companion, and Gigi fixes her with a stare again. Its different than earlier though. More amused than frustrated. There’s something in the quirk of her lips that gives her again. 

“You eat like the dead do.” Gigi says. “And you snore too.” 

Its Crystal’s turn to balk then. “Its rude to talk to strangers like that.” She knows its true though. She does snore, but the others tell her that its not that bad. Only noticeable when you’re paying attention, or when you’re the last one left awake in the bunks. 

“Then I’m rude. But that’s the truth.” Gigi’s smile really is dazzling, not missing teeth like most of the people Crystal met outside of her own group. “My mom taught me well.” 

“Yeah?” Crystal places her empty can to the side, giving all her attention over to Gigi. It wasn’t quite dark outside yet, but twilight had certainly hit, and coloured the sky orange. Crystal wondered if this place still had power for when it did get dark. She wasn’t scared, but wasn’t happy being somewhere strange in absolute darkness. “Is she dead?” She asks, without much conduct. 

“Yeah.” Gigi replies, and there’s hurt there, like Crystal knew there would be, and its clearly a sore spot, so she doesn’t push. 

“So how long have you been out on your own? I couldn’t handle that for an hour… clearly.” Crystal tries to lighten the mood, and it doesn’t work. 

“About as long as she’s been gone. I ran with a group for a while before that fell apart. Now I’m here.” She answers swiftly, and Crystal is starting to wonder how it could be possible that someone could survive alone. 

“Where did you get all the food?” 

Gigi shrugs. “Around.” 

“Cool, cool… cool.” Crystal says, and there’s quiet again. Gigi had a journal beside her, and a pencil, and had picked it back up again when she finished eating. She sketched away, paying little heed to Crystal even as they spoke, but Crystal can see her stealing glances over the rim, so she doesn’t feel as weird looking back. She’s not lucky enough to have entertainment on hand. There are a few magazines, with beautiful women on the covers, in a little pile beside her, but she doesn’t dare touch. She’s curious about this woman anyway. 

Gigi is cross legged, and her eyebrows crease while she works. Crystal wonders what she’s doing, but doubts she has the courage to ask. Instead, she makes things up in her head. Horses maybe, or landscapes. Maybe people she had once known, or wherever she had grown up. She had once known a man who would write nothing but old sonnets from memory, always getting them a little wrong. Or, at least, they never sounded quite right. 

“You’re staring.” Gigi quips, smiling lightly down at her book, and Crystal flushes aa little.

“Sorry, its been a while since I’ve met someone new.” 

Gigi closes her journal. “Same, sorry if I’m not good at this.”

“I’m just glad I wasn’t killed today, so please don’t apologise.” Crystal throws up her hands in surrender. It works, and Gigi loosens up. Outside, the growls have lessened a little, and Gigi stands to shake out her limbs and look down at the garden. 

“They’re still there.” She states. 

“How many?” 

“Maybe ten.” 

Crystal huffs. Ten was too many for them to take on. “Homophobia.” She mutters. 

“What?” Gigi asks, and Crystal’s head whips over to her. She didn’t expect her to hear, and blushes a little under the attention. 

“Nothing. What about the front?” 

Gigi narrows her eyes for a moment, regarding her, but lets it go. She shrugs. “Probably more. 208 had a lot in there.” She says, and lets it hang for a moment. “We can go look, if you like?” Crystal agrees, and stands, stretching and popping her back. Gigi watches her, not bothering to hide the way her eyes wander. Crystal doesn’t miss it either, and its an exciting prospect. 

She’s guided across the hall and into the adjacent bedroom, where she’s hit with another wave of confusion. “Wait… this is an actual bedroom?” 

“What?”

“You seriously sleep on a mattress on the floor when you have a perfectly good bed right here!” Crystal falls onto it, her exhausted body revelling in the comfort for a moment, before she looks back to Gigi. “Well?”

“I like it that way.” Gigi shrugs, and goes to the window, drawing the curtains aside to peak down at the road. “Six.” 

“Too many.” Crystal sighs, but she’s not afraid she’ll be killed if she stays inside anymore. If Gigi wanted her dead, she’d have done it while she slept. “I don’t know about you, but I’m staying in here tonight.”

“We should stay together.” Gigi says, quickly, jitterish. “I mean, to sleep in shifts or whatever.” 

Crystal looks at her, and feels a little bit of heat in her belly. She’s tired, and maybe that’s making her bold, but she wants to reach forward and touch, to give some kind of physical affirmation that everything’s fine, the way she would with people at home. She’s always been physical, and her friends had been forced to get used to it. She doubts Gigi would be as easy to convince, but her hands try for it anyway, and she leans up to give her hand a squeeze. 

Gigi jumps, high, and its funny enough that Crystal forgets herself and laughs a boisterous laugh. It sets off some responding cries from outside, and she winces. Gigi does too, but she doesn’t seem mad. She’s smiling at her, and laughs quietly at the way Crystal mouths apologies. She doesn’t shake her off, and instead squeezes back, turning to face her. 

“We can both stay in here.” Crystal says. “If you dint mind sleeping in a real bed. Or, um, we could drag your mattress in? If you’re not comfortable.” 

“Its fine.” Gigi almost cuts her off, and Crystal’s sure now, by the way red colours her cheeks, that she wasn’t making up the way she saw Gigi looking at her. 

“Good.” She just says, tugging a little on her hand. Gigi lets herself be ushered forward, which Crystal didn’t expect, but she welcomes it when Gigi’s knees hit against the bedframe. Gigi seemed a little lost, eyes darting between her face and their joined hands, before flickering briefly to her lips, and her teeth bite down on her own as she does. It’s the hottest thing Crystal’s seen since the girls back at camp played strip poker, and she’s done nothing like they did, shown no skin. 

“Is this okay?” Crystal says, when Gigi is closer than they have been to each other since Gigi had grabbed her downstairs. She’s basically standing between Crystal’s legs. 

“Y-yeah “ Gigi murmurs. Crystal tests the waters, leaning up a little, closing the distance between then. She can feel the puffs of air Gigi releases as she breathes, heavy and hard. “I… haven’t, I haven’t-“ 

“Its okay.” Crystal says, because she gets it. Well, she can imagine it. She doesn’t want too, but she can. A life where the only faces you see are rotting off the bone, sprouting in fungus, and eager to rip you apart. Seeing a human, a live one, must feel… indescribable. 

She doesn’t want to push her too hard, and quickly ushers herself to the side so Gigi can sit beside her. She doesn’t want to push her, but she doesn’t want to drop her hand either, and Gigi doesn’t fight her. They sit in relative silence, watching the Infected shamble along the streets, and Crystal feels tingly where her thighs brush against the other woman’s. She doesn’t want to push, but Gigi is certainly looking at her some kinda way. She can feel her eyes on her.

When Crystal does work up the courage to take a peak herself, she catches Gigi in the act. Gigi lets out a breath, shaky and almost a laugh, once she’s caught, but there isn’t enough force behind it. “Are you alright?” Crystal asks. 

“Yeah, I’m…” Gigi’s gaze falls to the floor again, where she watches a beetle make its way between the splintering wood panels. “Sorry, I sound crazy.”

“No you don’t.”

“I mean in my head. Its been a while.” She sighs down at herself, and Crystal, realising she is still, miraculously, holding hands with her, gives her a squeeze. 

Its weird, not knowing where to stand with a person. Crystal has had the same people around her for so long that she could read all their quirks, knew their tells and their habits. But Gigi has a face that doesn’t give under pressure like Jan’s, and she doesn’t seem to talk like Brita would. Its uncharted territory, but Crystal still knows she has some advantage here. She can feel it in each jump of the other woman’s muscles against her leg anyway, and that’s enough of a confidence boost for Crystal. 

“I think you’re doing fine.” She says, and Gigi smiles down at the floor. 

“Thanks.” 

Just as Crystal is about to say more, she’s interrupted by a yawn. An embarrassingly long and loud one at that. She gives a light shove when Gigi laughs at her, gesturing to her as if to remind her that she snores too, like Gigi knew that’s what she sounded like when she yawned. “You’re tired?” Crystal just nods in response. “You can sleep, I’ll take first shift.”

“Stop, you don’t need to stay up.” Crystal insists. “You’ve survived here this long without back up.” 

“Not with so many around.” Gigi says, but she’s hesitant. She looks tired herself, and Crystal doubts she slept when she took her own little catnap. 

“No, c’mon, I bet you’re a light sleeper. I bet the last of my coffee back home that you are.” 

“You have coffee?” Gigi asked, eyes suddenly like saucers as she watched her. 

“Instant, but yeah. Its not bad.” Crystal smiles at the way Gigi swoons. She closes her eyes for a moment, and Crystal thinks she looks even more pretty as the day goes on, and she sees her in new light. 

“I would do anything for coffee.” Gigi muses, blissful for a moment, and Crystal can see the girl she might have been, if she had existed back before all this. One of those girls in the magazines she finds stashed away in some of the girl’s lockers. The same ones she had seen in Gigi’s room earlier too, now that she thinks about it. 

Yes, Gigi would have been one of those girls, for sure. 

“Why don’t you come back with me, have a cup?” Crystal asks, before thinking about it, and stutters a little at the end, once her mind catches up with her mouth. “If you would want that, I mean.”

Gigi’s eyes have snapped open, looking at her like she’s grown five heads, and one of them has horns. It fades quick, and she smiles at her instead. “Yeah, maybe one day.” She says, jovially, like it’s a joke, but Crystal didn’t mean it like a joke. She didn’t mean to talk so brazenly, or so openly, but she knew she meant the words themselves. 

“No, we get new members all the time!” She says, and Gigi is quick to counter. 

“I don’t do well in a crowd.” 

“-Not that we let just anyone in. We’re an all girl group! If that… means anything.” Crystal finishes, trailing quietly when Gigi’s head just falls to the side, still smiling a little. 

“You’re funny.” 

“Yeah, I’ve heard.” Crystal says. “Am I right though? You’re a light sleeper?” Gigi rolls her head back forwards, into a nod. “I knew it! That’s it settled though. No shifts.” 

She lets herself fall back, and the wariness hits her bones then, once she’s flat on the bed. Gigi looks down at her, fidgeting with her free hand, until Crystal gives her a tug. “You want to sleep.” Gigi just nods again, and Crystal shuffles over so that her head rests down on one of the dusty old pillows. Its about as comfortable as her cot in the school, which isn’t much, but its not the worst place she’s slept. Not by a long shot. 

“You coming or not?” She asks, because Gigi still hasn’t moved. She’s sitting there beside her. Their hands broke apart during Crystal’s movement, and Gigi’s have retreated to her own lap. She’s looking over her shoulder though, watching Crystal shift and surge trying to make herself comfortable. 

Gigi takes a few more seconds to move, but then she does, stiff as a board on her back beside her. Crystal pushes herself up on her side to face her, resting her head in her hand as she regards the woman beside her, whose eyes are open and wide as she stares at the ceiling. 

“Relax.”

“How do I know you won’t kill me in my sleep?”

“Because you’re a paranoid loner, and I basically just asked you to come live with me.” Crystal says, completely serious despite her words. “Besides, you didn’t kill me. Tit for tat, or whatever.”

Gigi turns to mimic her pose. “You’re too trusting.” Crystal shrugs, because maybe she’s right. She does trust too easily. She gets attached too easily too. She’s cried at every death, human or animal, that’s taken a member of her new family from her, even when they were newcomers. She’s not built for this world at all, but that hasn’t stopped her yet. 

“Maybe.” She says, instead of all of that, because that may be a lot to lay out for someone who hasn’t seen her ugly cry yet. 

“No, I think I would know.” Gigi speaks like she knows she’s right again. Crystal laughs at the audacity, but she likes it, and she likes that Gigi smiles back at her anyway. For a moment, those eyes dart down to Crystal lips again, a little longer this time. Feeling safe in the near darkness, Crystal assumes. It still gets to her though, and she chokes on her own giggles. “You okay?” Gigi looks almost concerned, which makes Crystal laugh even more. 

“Sorry, its nothing.” 

Crystal twists her arm so she can lay down properly, but says on her side so she can watch her. Again, Gigi mimics her. Crystal closes her eyes, for just a minute, waiting but not quite looking for sleep, before letting them open again. 

“Caught you.” She whispers, and Gigi blushes darkly at being discovered staring. 

“Sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry.” Crystal inches a little closer, the same way she would to a stray cat on the street, slowly and while looking for any signs of agitation. Gigi doesn’t seem bothered, so she goes again, a little less graceful this time, until her face is half resting on Gigi’s pillow instead of her own. Gigi’s eyes flicker across her face, but there’s no stress there. Still, Crystal is anxious. “Is this okay?” 

“Can I kiss you?” Gigi asks, all of a sudden, and Crystal’s mouth hangs loose for a moment at her boldness. “Sorry, I’m sorry… it’s been so long since I saw…” Gigi is frowning, and looks like she’s searching deeply within herself for the words, before Crystal’s jaw shuts with a click. 

“Yes.” She says, before Gigi can figure out what she wants to say. “Yeah, you can kiss me.” 

Gigi searches her eyes for a moment, looking for something she doesn’t find, before she pushes up and forwards, connecting their lips in a kiss so soft, Crystal barely feels it. Her eyes slide shut anyway, letting Gigi set the pace for now. She can feel her quivering, taut as a bowstring, before she moves robotically. Gigi cups her jaw and leans in, kissing her properly, and the darkness behind Crystal’s eyelids dance with excitement. 

She hasn’t kissed anyone in a while, but its probably been longer for Gigi, and she wants to give her something to remember. 

Even with that, its Gigi who deepens the kiss, biting down on Crystal’s lip with enough force that its painful, until she gasps. Gigi makes a little sound at the back of her throat, and its enough to drive one mad given the circumstances, but she tears herself away from Crystal as soon as it happens. She looks frantic, eyes darting around the room like the dead would already be closing in on then, and maybe Crystal shouldn’t have joked about her being paranoid. 

“Hey, its okay!” Crystal reaches out with the hand not supporting her weight to touch her, resting it down on Gigi’s shoulder. She starts a little, but its only for a moment, before reality comes flooding back before her very eyes, and Gigi breathes again. 

“I haven’t let my guard down in a while.”

“Sometimes it can feel good too let go a little.” A wail sounds out below them, as if to punctuate Crystals words, and she almost smiles at the comedy of it all. “Yeah, um, even besides.”

“If you say so.” Gigi says, but there’s no bite behind the words. She settles down back against the pillows, and Crystal does the same, because the moment has passed, and she really is tired. 

“Trust me.” She says, before she clasps their hands together again in the small space left between them. “Seriously, nothings going to happen. I swear.” She teases. “Try, just this once.” Gigi looks exhausted. Crystal has no idea when she last slept, but it’s not difficult to guess that its been a while. “I’ll even stay up for a few hours, just in case.” 

Gigi’s eyes slip shut. “Thank you, Crystal.” She says, as if to prove she remembers her name. 

“No problem, Gigi.”

“Goodnight.”

Crystal says it back, but she thinks Gigi is asleep before she can hear it. Her breathing is even, and the lines of stress between her eyebrows even out, and Crystal doesn’t realise she’s being creepy until she’s already crossed the line. She can’t believe she just kissed her. She hopes tomorrow will bring her a similar opportunity, even if she can’t talk her into coming home with her. 

The group didn’t always take in strays, but she didn’t lie. The girls were softies at heart for a woman down on their luck. And she really wants Gigi there. She already knows she’ll worry about her if they part ways in the morning. She had nightmares for weeks when Dahlia left. 

Crystal isn’t someone who can fight off sleep easily, and she can’t help but follow in Gigi’s steps not too long after that, but not before taking one last look at her. Just in case. 

Its easy to sleep with the day behind her, and the night is oddly peaceful. Still, she does feel a little guilt for not holding up her end of the bargain. No Infected would work their way through the doors to them anyway. 

Crystal is asleep before the last hints of sun fade into night. 

*

“What the fuck!” 

Crystal is woken to the sound of commotion, of heavy boots and shouting, and she’s on her feet before her eyes are fully open, and before her mind is really awake. Her knee collides hard with the bedframe, chasing away any remnants of sleep that remained, and she thinks that maybe Gigi did have the right idea about sleeping on the floor, but the thought is gone before she can register it, because Heidi is in front of her, holding her shoulder.

“You better keep back!”

“Are you okay?” Heidi asks, giving her a once over, and Crystal is about to answer, when she recognises she wasn’t woken by Heidi’s soft tones and kind eyes. Her eyes drift past, looking behind the other women, and she struggles out of the hold. 

“What are you doing?” Heidi is quick, grabbing her by the back of her jacket before she can dive into the scene, and Crystal can feel the confusion radiating from her. She doesn’t have time to address it though, because Gigi is on the floor, and at least two guns are levelled at her. “Stop, she’s fine!”

“Then why didn’t you come home?” Heidi gets her attention back, catching her eyes in her own warm brown ones, soothing her to whatever level they could, but its short lived. 

“We got surrounded in here.” She answered, frazzled, and its only then that she fully takes stock of the room, and sees Jaida, standing there, looking back. She shouts her name, and dashes forward. “I thought you were dead!” 

“Well you thought wrong!” Jaida snapped down, before immediately softening when Crystal almost bowls her over with a hug. “Chile stop, I don’t have the safety on.” Crystal throws herself off, smiling, before she realises why. She’s delighted to see Jaida alive, so much so that she’s forgotten that Nicky is standing there, gun ready, and she’s always been one to act on impulse.

Jackie is there too, the last of the party, and is the only one who has no weapon drawn. She has one, because no one goes unarmed these days, but she’s not a fighter. She’s a medic. And it makes sense that she’s here. They probably expected a body.

“Jackie, tell them its fine!” Crystal implores, trying to show with her eyes that she means it. Jackie has always been slow to kill humans. Even the foul ones. “Please!” 

Jaida mutters something under her breath, but holsters her gun. Gigi has found her way to her feet in that time, and faces off with Nicky, both like snarling dogs separated by a fence. It would almost be funny if there weren’t so many loaded firearms in the room. 

Eventually though, Jackie sighs. Ever level headed, she says. “Drop it, Nicky, if she couldn’t kill Crystal, she’s not a threat.” Nicky says something in French, and Jackie smiles quickly at her, before rolling her eyes. “Please explain what’s happening.” She doesn’t direct it at anyone in general, but Jaida takes the lead. 

“We found this one playing with her gun on the floor, and Crys over there,” she gestures vaguely towards the bed. “Fair to assume a little fight broke out when she actually saw us.” She turns to Gigi then, addressing her properly. “You’re lucky we didn’t actually want to kill anyone today.” 

Gigi looks like she’s biting back a sneer, at all of them, and draws back to give herself a little distance. There’s a chain reaction. Guns and shouting and chaos, but Jackie whistles and its done quicker than it began. Everyone takes stock of themselves to make sure no one was shot, and the moment passes. Crystal’s heart feels like its about to implode in her chest. 

“What about the Infected?” She asks.

“What?” Heidi asks. 

“How did you get in here? There were dozens, they surrounded the house.” Crystal’s head was swimming, still a little asleep it seems. “Where are they?” 

There’s a chorus of shrugs. They moved on, or they were outside and it was all coming down on them soon. Either way, it was time to move. 

The girls dismiss Gigi then, and she seems shaken and sickly for a moment, and while the rest of them get organised, Crystal creeps over. They would be taking for ages anyway before they leave. Strategy and planning were as much a part of life as eating. 

“Gigi?” She asks, and the dark haired woman jumps at the sound of her name, skittish again. Crystal wishes she wasn’t, but understands. Its hard to feel comfortable in a room full of strangers. 

“Yeah?”

“I know we didn’t finish talking about it, but the offer stands, y’know?” Gigi looks confused, so she clarifies. “You can join up with us, if you’re tired of being on your own.”

“I don’t think your friends would agree.” Gigi spares them a glance, and, following her eyeline, Crystal sees Jackie watching back. Wary of the stranger in her space. Its fair that she is. The few people they have run into since Crystal has been with them have taken special anger at the sight of her, wearing a Hijab seemed to offend the most frothing of scavengers, and she didn’t warm to new people straight away. But given time… 

“They weren’t so kind to me, once.” Crystal whispers, and Gigi looks at her for a moment, like maybe she’s considering it. Like she is tired of being on her own, because Crystal knows she is, or she would have tossed Crystal into the road as soon as the madness died down again to fend for herself. She wouldn’t have talked to her. Wouldn’t have kissed her. “Please?” 

“I’ll think about it.” Gigi says. Just as Crystal is about to protest, she continues. “I know where oi find you. And you know where to find me.”

Crystal figures its enough, and instinctually wraps her arms around her for a hug. She can tell it throws her off, and that Gigi isn’t sure if she likes it yet or not, but she commits, and when she pulls back, Gigi gives her a short, but genuine, smile. 

“Now get the fuck out of my house.” 

“Girl, I thought she would at least be nice.” Heidi says from across the room, and Crystal gives one last squeeze to her hand before dropping it. 

“I’ll hold you too that.” She whispers, before pulling away, back to her friends. She gathers her things downstairs, and they line up at the front door (jimmied open by Jaida, she has no doubt), readying their exit. There’s nothing outside to warrant panic, but its always better safe than sorry. 

Crystal takes one last look at the house, once they’re out front, committing it to her somewhat forgetful memory, and turns to follow the rest of the girls. If she doesn’t see that girl in the doorway of the school in the next week, she’s coming back to get her. Because she already feels the bad thoughts creeping in under her skin at the idea of leaving her. 

Faintly, she thinks she sees her, back up in the bedroom through the window, but it may have been a trick of the light. But she likes to think she sees her there. That maybe that kiss meant something for Gigi too. Regardless, Crystal doesn’t think she’ll be too hard to convince.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so I did this, I'm in love with it. I take no constructive critique. 
> 
> No but please leave a comment, hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> You can find my socials @essenceofhalls x


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